Reverse traverse drapery support



Feb. 10, 1953 L. L. DEGNAN' ETAL REVERSE TRAVERSE DRAPERY SUPPORT 2 SHEETSSHEET 1 Filed May 27, 1948 jhvezaions' M PL? 7% Feb. 10, 1953 L. DEGNAN ET AL 2,627,915

REVERSE TRAVERSE DRAPERY SUPPORT Filed. May 27, 1948 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Patented Feb. 10, 1953 REVERSE TRAVERSE DRAPERY SUPPORT Leah Louise Degnan and Thomas P. Buckman, Minneapolis, Minn.

Application May 27, 1948, Serial No. 29,468

This invention relates to drapery supports and particularly to a drapery support adapted to permit said draperies to be reversed.

Draperies as a general rule have only one side which is presented for View from the interior of the room in which they are hung. Sometimes these draperies are lined to give them more body and weight to produce straight and uniform folds and improve the hanging qualities and appearance of the drapery. It is our intention to provide a drapery support which will permit the drapes to be lined with a regular drapery material to provide two draperies and by reversing the drapery on the support to selectively present one of two draperies for view from the room.

It is an object of our invention to provide a drapery support so constructed that the drapery carried thereby may be easily and quickly reversed to present the opposite side thereof for view and thereby permit either of two draperies to be selectively displayed.

More specifically, it is an object to provide a pair of interconnected tracks disposed in horizontal parallel relation and adapted to carry a drapery thereon and having means for shifting said drapery from one track to the other to reverse the same and present the other side there of for view.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the views, and, in which:

Fig. l is a top plan view of our improved -drapery support showing a pair of drapes carried thereon;

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the structure shown in Fig. l with the valance removed;

' Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the detail of the line and pulley arrangement for positioning the draperies;

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken along the line of 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 55 of Fig. 1 and showing a detail of the pulley and guide wheels and spring latch mechanism forlocking the draperies at the end of the rear track; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side elevational view showing the spring latch mechanism in detail as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

As illustrated in the accompanying drawings we provide a pair of parallel horizontally disposed tracks such as the Channels Hi and Ii, best 6 Claims. (01. IMF-126) shown in Fig. l. The channels IE3 and II are disposed with their webs l2 and I3 vertically disposed in back to back spaced parallel relation. The outstanding legs I4 of channel iii extend inwardly toward the wall surface, as best shown in Fig. 4, and the outstanding legs 15 of channel I extend outwardly away from the wall, as best shown in Fig. 4. The respective ends of the outstanding legs l4 and I5 are bent together to respectively form opposed flanges l5 and H. The outer channel H is slidably joined with the adjacent end of inner channel it] as by a curved u-shaped connector track or channel it of slightly smaller dimensions in order to be telescopically received within the channels It and l l but having the same general cross sectional shape as best shown in Fig. 4. The connector channel 18 extends a substantial distance into the two channels 10 and H. The two channels [0 and H combine with the interconnecting channel iii to form a continuous U-shaped trackway, which w telescopically adjustable to fit windows of various sizes.

Suitable hanger brackets iii are provided to adjustably attach said trackway to the wall or other supporting structure. The brackets it have wall engaging flanges [9a and are adapted to be securely attached to the wall as by being screwed thereto. Brackets 19 are made in two pieces and at least one of the pieces has an elongated slot formed therein with a bolt therethrough for attachment to the other piece to permit adjustment of the spaced relation between the trackway and the wall. The outer piece of bracket I9 is substantially L-shaped and the outer portion thereof depends downwardly between the two spaced parallel channels I!) and l i with outstanding carrier arms 20 fixed at the bot tom thereof. These carrier arms 20 are concavely curved at the outer portions thereof to form saddles into which the channels In and H are respectively received to support the same thereby.

A plurality of drapery carriers 2| are inserted into one of the channels such as the channel H as shownin the accompanying drawings and these carriers 2! have a diminished horizontally disposed neck portion Zia which is adapted to be received between the opposed spaced channel flanges ll of the channel II and to ride on the lower flange as a track. The inner extremity of the neck am has a carrier flange such as the disc 21b fixed thereto and the other extremity of neck 21a has an outer carrier fiange 2 lo fixed thereto. The two flanges 2Ib and 2lc retain the carrier in sliding position on the trackway. The

2-1 is fixed to the carriers 2| so that the longitudinal center line thereof substantially intersects the transverse center lines of the diminished neck portions 2la of the carriers 21.

A pair of sleeves and 26 are respectively slipped over the end portions of the channels H) and II as best shown in Fig. 5. The sleeve 26 is held in position on its channel H as by a pair of diagonally spaced pins 21 and 28. These pins extend respectively through aligned apertures formed in said sleeve 25 and the end portion of channel H. The upper outwardly spaced pin 2? extends horizontally through the rear web (3 of the channel I! and through the upper flange ll of said channel II. The lower and inner pin 23 extends through the lower portion of web l3of channel II and out through the lower flange I? of said channel. A pair of sheaves 29 and 30 are respectively journaled on said pins spaced inwardly from said sheaves 29 and 33 when said shiftable sheave 3| is in place within channel II. A draw-cord 32 is trained about sheaves 29, 31 and 30 in that order and forms a loop disposed within said channel H with an upper run extending outwardly over sheave 29 and a lower run extending outwardly over sheave 30, the intermediate portion of said cord 32 being trained about shiftable sheave 3!. The cord 32 is fixed to the two opposed inner carriers 2i of the'respective drapes 22, the lower run being fixed to one carrier' ZI and the upper run being fixed to the other carrier in the usual manner for conventional traverse drapes so that when one of the free ends hanging from the sheaves 23 and 3t is pulled, the drapes will be either opened or closed and vice-versa when the other end is pulled.

A shifting cord 33 is threaded through the channel It around the interconnection channel l8 and has one end fixed, to a shiftable sheave 3| as best shown in Fig. 3. A sheave 34 is journaled for rotation on a pin 35 which extends through sleeve 25 and channel 10 and is disposed transversely of channel 19. An intermediateportion of the cord 33 runs through channel Hi and is trained about sheave 34 as best shown in Fig. 3. A spring latch mechanism having a pivoted latch lever 36 is provided, as best shown in Fig. 6. As shown in Fig. 5, the latch lever 36 is pivotally mounted on the end of sleeve 25 nearest the wall on the outside thereof. A plate 38 is fixed to the upper portion of the upper flange 16 in outstanding relation thereto and a spring receiving seat 36a is fixed in outstanding relation at theouter end of lever 36 in vertically opposed spaced relation to outstanding plate 38. A spring3'l is interposed between the two spaced plates 36a and 38 The'lever 36 has a shaft receiving latchelement 35b; projecting-' element 361) slopes downwardly at the inner extremity thereof. A shaft 39 journals the sheave 3| and said shaft extends outwardly through the open space between the opposed flanges of the trackway. When this shaft is shifted around by pulling downwardly on shifting cord 33, it will engage against the sloping inner extremity of lever 36 and will press said inner end downwardly against the resilient force of spring 3? and permit the shaft to be shifted outwardly to a point behind said latch element 361) to be received therebehind and retained thereby. The free end of shifting cord 33 in the form of the invention illustrated and best shown in Fig. 6 is fastened to the inner extremity of lever 36 to permit said lever to be pivoted against the resilient force of spring 37 and thereby release said shaft 39 of the latch element 3%. Obviously, it is not necessary for the shifting cord to be attached to the latch mechanism and it is perfectly conceivablethat a separate cord be used for this purpose.

The following is description of the operation of our support for reversibly hanging traverse drapes therefrom. After the carrier units for the individual draperies have been inserted into the channel H, the double faced drapes may be hung thereon and with the cords 32 and 33 in their respective operating positions, our device is ready for operation. The drapes 22, when suspended from the channel H disposed farthest from the wall, one side of the draperies is displayed for view from the room with the other side displayed for view from the outside. The spacing between the respective drapes 22 may be adjusted by the draw-cord 32 in the conventional manner. When it is desired to reverse the drapes and display the other side thereof for view from inside, the'shifting cord 33 is pulled downwardly over sheave 34 and the pair of draperies will be transferred to the track l0 disposed nearest the wall and the sheave 31 will be shifted outwardly along channel I0 until the shaft 39 is received behind the spring latch element 36b, to securely hold and loci; said drapes in reverse position and permit a traverse spacing thereb etween to be adjusted in the normal manner by the draw-cord 32 which has been shifted around to run through channel 13 as well as channel H. Obviously, the cord 32 will have to be of suficient length to permit the same to extend completely'around the U-shaped trackway with enough length hanging down to permit easy adjustment of the spacing between the drapes when they are in reversed position on channel 10.

The L-shaped hangers 19 have their outermost elements fixed to the respective channels IQ and il as by having the carrier arms welded to the lower portions thereof to securely hold said trackway against shifting during the operation of our device. Any suitable valance cover may be provided to enclose the track-way and present a neat and decorative appearance thereto.

It will be seen that we have provided a novel and improved, highly efficient, yet relatively inexpensive support for draperies which will permit the easy reversing of the draperies so that two separate and distinct materials may be used in back-to-back relation for the draperies and either one of these materials may be selectively displayed at any time; if the housewife decides that she wants to change the decorating color scheme of her room, all she need do is transfer the drapes to the other side of the track-way and to reverse the same and a separate and distinct color scheme may be thus provided.

It will, of course, be understood, that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of our invention.

What we claim is:

1. A drapery support comprising a substantially U-shaped trackway, means for securely attaching said trackway to a wall, a plurality of carriers slidably mounted on said trackway and adapted to hold a drapery suspended therefrom, means for interconnecting said carriers, a shiftable sheave mounted for movement along said trackway, a flexible cord fixed at one end to said shiftable sheave and extending therefrom around a portion of said U-shaped trackway to permit said sheave to be pulled around said trackway to transfer said interconnected carriers and the drapery attached thereto around from one side of the trackway to the other side of the trackway to reverse said drapery, a second cord element trained about said sheave and fixed to certain of said carriers to permit the traversed position to said drapery to be adjusted and to permit said sheave and said carriers to be transferred back around said trackway to return said drapery to the initial position.

2. A drapery support comprising a two armed substantially U-shaped trackway, means for attaching said trackway to a wall, a first group of carriers slidably mounted on said trackway and adapted to support a first drapery, a second group of carriers slidably mounted on said trackway and adapted to support a second drapery, a shiftable sheave mounted for movement along said trackway, a first cord guided by said trackway, attached at one end to said shiftable sheave and guidably supported to depend downwardly adjacent the end of one arm of the trackway and a second cord running over said shiftable sheave having two runs guided by said trackway and having portions depending downwardly adjacent the end of the other arm of said trackway, one run of said second cord being attached to one of said carriers of said first group and the other run of said second cord being attached to one of said carriers of said second group whereby either side of the suspended drapes may be exposed to view from a given position and the two drapes may be separated or drawn together.

3. The structure defined in claim 2 and flexible members respectively interconnecting the carriers in each group and limiting the possible spacing between the most widely spaced carriers of each group.

4. The structure defined in claim 2, said guideway being of C-shape in cross section with the open side of the guideway outwardly exposed, and said shiftable sheave and said cords being received within said guideway.

5. The structure defined in claim 2 and sheaves adjacent the ends of said arms over which intermediate portions of said cords run.

6. The structure defined in claim 2 and a spring catch mounted on the wall side of the open end portion of said U-shaped trackway for releasably retaining said shiftable sheave adjacent the end of the arm of said guideway from which said first cord depends.

LEAH LOUISE DEGNAN. THOMAS P. BUCKMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 656,506 Broadstreet Aug. 21, 1900 814,903 Elchinger Mar. 13, 1906 1,022,210 Thir Apr. 2, 1912 1,239,919 Kirsch Sept. 11, 1917 1,549,925 Sarkisian Aug. 18, 1925 1,916,719 Dover et a1. July 4, 1933 2,238,984 Richardson Apr. 22, 1941 

